Season 2, Episodes 1-5, Star Trek: The Original Series

I’m back again with the next five episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series. Here we kick off season 2, which brings changes welcome and unwelcome. On the good side, Chekov is now a character, and on the bad side the theme song is now accompanied by an annoying opera singer. Ah well.

Season 2, Episode 1: “Amok Time”

Original Airdate: 15 September 1967
Directed by: Joseph Pevney
Wikipedia synopsis: “When Mr. Spock begins behaving aggressively, Kirk discovers his first officer must return home to Vulcan to be married, or die. Kirk disobeys his orders to save Spock, only to find the unbalanced Vulcan at his throat when the bride forces Spock into a duel – and chooses the captain as her champion.”
Favorite quote: “It would be illogical for us to protest against our natures”Tumblr Commentary

This is without a doubt one of the most important TOS episodes ever, and with good reason. It offers insight into Vulcan culture, and cements the friendship between Kirk and Spock. I had already watched this in TV class, but was really glad to see it again. It has a good amount of humor which comes with Spock acting strange, and this quickly turns to drama as we realize he’s in danger. Classic episode.

Season 2, Episode 2: “Who Mourns for Andonais?”

Original Airdate: 22 September 1967
Directed By: Marc Daniels
Wikipedia Synopsis: “The crew of the Enterprise are held captive by an alien who claims to be the Greek god Apollo.”
Favorite Quote: “In a phrase: fascinating.”Tumblr Commentary

This was a pretty interesting episode. It goes back to the old Star Trek staple of supreme alien beings using humans for their own amusement, except this one is slightly more dire as the Greek god Apollo wants adoration more than amusement. Spock gets to be the captain when Kirk is down on the planet, which is always a fun time. Uhura also has a moment in the spotlight (though a very small one) repairing some sort of communications thing; it’s not much but it’s nice to see her doing something other than calling people. This episode’s not especially ground breaking (not anymore so than similar plot lines they’ve done before), but it’s better than just battling aliens on autopilot and it’s executed well.

Season 2, Episode 3: “The Changeling”

Original Airdate: 29 September 1967
Directed By: Marc Daniels
Wikipedia Synopsis: “The crew of the Enterprise deals with Nomad—an indestructible, planet-destroying space probe that thinks Kirk is its creator. Star Trek: The Motion Picture was in part an expansion of this episode.”
Favorite Quote: “It’s reaction to emotion is unpredictable. It is almost like a life form.”Tumblr Commentary

This is a pretty awesome episode, as you can probably tell because they decided to expand upon its premise and make an entire movie out of it. It’s not exactly the same situation as Star Trek: The Motion Picture but it’s close enough to be identifiable. This episode is also pretty dramatic; Scotty dies, Uhura gets her memory erased, and Spock is momentarily possessed. Round that off with Kirk’s “dazzling display of logic” to confuse the probe into destroying itself and you have a pretty fantastic episode.

Season 2, Episode 4: “Mirror, Mirror”

Original Airdate: 6 October 1967
Directed By: Marc Daniels
Wikipedia Synopsis: “A transporter mishap slips Captain Kirk and his companions into a parallel universe, where the Enterprise serves a barbaric Empire instead of the Federation. This episode spun off several plotlines in Deep Space Nine and Enterprise.”
Favorite Quote: “You’re a man of integrity in both universes, Mr. Spock.”Tumblr Commentary

This was one of those episodes where, through some strange accident, everyone on the Enterprise becomes exactly the opposite of what they actually are. In this case, they come face to face with barbaric doubles of themselves. There’s some romantic stuff with Kirk that’s pretty annoying, but all in all this episode is one of Trek‘s better ones. Both version of Spock are especially great; it’s really funny to see how the “civilized” Spock takes the appearance of his unexpectedly savage crewmates.

Season 2, Episode 5: “The Apple”

Original Airdate: 13 October 1967
Directed By: Joseph Pevney
Wikipedia Synopsis: “The crew of the Enterprise visits a mysterious and deadly paradise planet which they discover is controlled by a machine called Vaal.”
Favorite Quote: “The garden of Eden, with land mines.”Tumblr Commentary

This episode was actually really thought-provoking. It wasn’t quite as entertaining however, as there was quite a lot of humor in the beginning of the episode which tapered off in the middle. However, the Garden of Eden allegory was interesting, especially because it put the Enterprise crew in the position of the devil. I was with Spock on this one; the natives seemed happy so not only was it wrong to force their human beliefs on them it was also against the prime directive (which didn’t really get brought up, strangely).

This was a really good batch of episodes; Star Trek kicks off season 2 with a bang! Stay tuned for episodes 6-10!